Sommer, Hans (real name, Hans Friedrich August Zincke)

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Sommer, Hans (real name, Hans Friedrich August Zincke)

Sommer, Hans (real name, Hans Friedrich August Zincke), German teacher, writer on music, and composer; b. Braunschweig, July 20, 1837; d. there, April 26, 1922. He studied mathematics at the Univ. of Göttingen (Ph.D., 1858), where he became a prof. of physics; taught mathematics at Braunschweig’s Technische Hochschule (1859–84), serving as its director (from 1875). He then devoted himself to music. In 1898 he helped to found the Genossenschaft Deutscher Komponisten, which became the Genossenschaft Deutscher Tonsetzer in 1903. His lyric songs were greatly appreciated in Germany and England.

Works

DRAMATIC: Opera: Der Nachtwächter (Braunschweig, Nov. 22, 1865); Der Vetter aus Bremen (1865; not perf.); Loreley (Braunschweig, April 11, 1891); Saint Foix (Munich, Oct. 31, 1894); Der Meermann (Weimar, April 19, 1896); Augustin (1898; not perf.); Münchhausen (1896–98; not perf.); Rübezahl und der Sackpfeifer von Neisse (Braunschweig, May 15, 1904); Riquet mit dem Schopf (Braunschweig, April 14, 1907); Der Waldschratt (Braunschweig, March 31, 1912). OTHER: Orch. pieces; choruses for Men’s Voices; songs.

Bibliography

E. Valentin, H. S.(Braunschweig, 1939).

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire

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